Half-Marathon Training, Week 12

The Chicago Spring Half Marathon is Sunday! I’m ready. I just hope the weather is nice, and by nice I mean in the 60s and not raining. Is that asking too much? It IS Chicago. …

I battled some anxiety as well as physical pain this week. My shoulder has been sore for about five days, so I’m looking forward to a few more days of rest and recovery before the race. The anxiety stems from unexpected financial obstacles we’re facing that are really the last thing I need right now on top of moving and big changes on the way for us. I can’t take much more of this stress this year. But that’s a story for another post.

Here’s how the last week of training went:Monday: Rest day.Tuesday: 1,7 miles at Orangetheory.

Floor exercises included:

Deadlifts to rows

Lunges to single-leg squats with straps

Planks to knee tucks

Tricep extensions on bench

Single-arm swings from squat position

Bicycle situps with weights

Bench jumps

Wednesday: Rest day.

Thursday: 2.5 miles of inclines at Orangetheory. One block was at 2 percent incline, one was at 3 percent and the last one was at 4 percent. We also did two 300-meter rows.

Floor workout:

Incline chest press

High rows on TRX strap

Reverse crunches

Knee tucks

A bunch of other chest and shoulder workouts

Friday: Rest day.

Saturday: Rest day.Sunday: 5.31 miles.

Week’s mileage: 9.51Yoga minutes: 20 minutes

Reflections:

I did not intend to have four rest days this week, but I crumbled amid my stress this week. You would think it would motivate me to burn off the tension, but it had the opposite effect: I wanted to curl into a ball and not move. The weather didn’t help matters; it felt like 35 on Saturday morning. I put off my planned run until Sunday.

Resting my shoulder and yoga are my plans these next few days before the race. I need to take my own advice about my yoga practice: Breathe and remember you can’t control anything but your reaction. Wish me luck, please!